


Just Doing Some Magic

by Crustac3an



Series: The Hospital [8]
Category: Flight Rising, Original Work
Genre: gabor has a bad day but every day is kind of a bad day for him, glitz is just here to have a good time
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-02
Updated: 2019-08-02
Packaged: 2020-07-29 03:50:14
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,068
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20075665
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Crustac3an/pseuds/Crustac3an
Summary: Glitz, the Hospital's resident mage, has a project. That project's name is Gabor. Gabor is pretty sure he's cursed, but Glitz is starting to have his doubts.





	Just Doing Some Magic

"And- and you're _sure_ this is going to work?"

"Oh, totally!"

Gabor closed his eyes, gritted his teeth, and steeled himself as the coral-pink glow slowly enveloped the library. It grew steadily brighter, bright enough that it stung even with his eyes tightly shut. As it did, it brought with it an electrical feeling that was difficult to describe, and a warmth that was more emotional than physical. It did nothing to chase away the chill Gabor felt.

Just as the light began to feel unbearable, it disappeared with a sound like a light bulb popping. Gabor opened his eyes slowly, one at a time, and tried to swallow his disappointment. Pinkish dust sparkled in the light as it filtered slowly down to the floor. It was going to take weeks to get it out of the carpet again. "So? Better?" Glitz asked, smiling expectantly.

Gabor looked down at himself. He didn't look any different. Perhaps a little pinker, but everything started to look that way around Glitz. He didn't feel any different, either. He was still cold. He was still hungry. But Glitz wanted an answer.

"I don't... know. I don't know," He said. "I d- I don't think it did anything. I'm sorry," Gabor added, as Glitz sighed theatrically and slumped against one of the nearby bookshelves. Gabor was, frankly, getting really tired of the dramatics, but he kept it to himself. Glitz was the only person left around here who took him seriously.

Glitz stared up at the pale, flickery lights- or, more likely, at the motes of glittering dust still floating through the air- and eventually spoke. "You know," He said, in a thoughtful tone that really didn't suit him, "I'm kind of starting to wonder if Vascula's right about you."

Gabor felt a short, cold burst of panic wash over him. He channeled his nerves in the same way he always did: by retreating to his desk and sorting paperwork. He enjoyed his job here. It was soothing in its monotony. "What do you mean?" He asked, sifting through the messy folders Tremain had dropped off that morning. His handwriting was almost illegible. And would it kill the man to invest in a few paperclips?

"That you're a, you know, a...." Glitz trailed off, lost in thought. It wasn't that he was stupid. At least, Gabor thought, not entirely, although the Crystalspines probably did do strange things to the mind. It was just that Glitz had very specific interests, and things as non-magical and dull as vocabulary words tended not to keep his attention for long.

"A hyp- hypochondriac," He offered, after a while. Vascula wasn't the only person who thought that about him, he knew.

Glitz shook his head. "No, what? No. Just, like... this whole curse thing is all in your head." Glitz was staring at him, Gabor realized. He turned his eyes back to his desk, refusing to meet his gaze. He suddenly wanted to be alone. Maybe someone would show up soon with some more filing to do. Or maybe a patient would arrive in desperate need of Glitz's attention. Something. Anything.

He carried on in silence, making annotations where he could and rewriting what he had to of Tremain's notes. His handwriting somehow seemed worse than usual. 

One of the lights overhead was was about to burn out. It flickered at odd intervals, and Gabor could hear it buzzing. He couldn't tell if it was getting louder, or if that was all in his head too. He wrote faster. His hands were shaking. All of a sudden, it was freezing. How could Glitz have been standing in here wearing those stupid gauzy starsilks? He wondered. That wasn't dust on the dingy carpet, he realized. A layer of frost had begun to form. And he could see his breath, shallow and rapid, forming small, icy clouds in front of him-

"What _happened_ to you?" Glitz asked, breaking the silence. Gabor jumped.

"I d- I don't know what you mean," He lied. He was sure he hadn't changed, at least, not since he'd arrived at the hospital. Nothing else was any of Glitz's business.

"Before they found you, I mean. I heard it was pretty bad. You can tell me," Glitz said. He finally moved from his place against the bookshelf, knocking some of the record books askew and leaving a handprint in the dust. He leaned over Gabor's desk, placing his hands between folders and ledgers and knocking aside the old tin Gabor stored his pens in. Personal space, like vocabulary and tact, was something that didn't interest Glitz much.

"No I- can't. No, I can't," Gabor said, slumping back into his chair. He couldn't focus on his work anymore, and not just because Glitz was leaning on it. He pulled his coat more tightly around himself. It must have been at least three sizes too big. It was hard to believe it actually used to fit. "I told you. I can't remember anything."

"But you remember being cursed," Glitz said, in an infuriatingly thoughtful tone of voice. It was like he was trying to walk himself through the concept.

"I don't rem- _remember_ anything. It's like I just woke up cursed one day." That answer didn't seem to satisfy Glitz. Nothing ever did. The thought of leaving apparently still hadn't crossed his mind, and he hopped up to sit on the edge of the desk. Oblivious to Gabor's halfhearted protests, he started rearranging its contents to make himself more comfortable. 

"Please... don't," Gabor said, catching the can as it fell. The remaining pens slid out and across the floor. He took a deep breath. He wanted to be alone. He was starting to feel like he needed to be alone. There was only so much Glitz one could take in a day. Just throwing him out wasn't an option; Glitz had a special way of finding his way into any place he wanted to be, and besides, he'd probably complain, and then Gabor would have to explain everything. That wasn't going to happen. So instead, he swallowed down the annoyance that had been building over the last several minutes, and said, "Fine. You want me to talk about it?"

"Of course!" Glitz said, leaning in close as if he was about to have some kind of great secret shared with him. He was grinning from ear to ear, and that smug, buck-toothed smile wasn't doing anything to improve Gabor's mood.

Gabor pressed himself further back into his chair. Anything to get a little space to himself. "Okay," He said. "Before I worked here I was... basically a scribe. I followed people with real jobs around and wrote down whatever they to- told me to."

"Uh, isn't that pretty much what you do now?"

"I don't follow an- anybody around anymore. I just stay here where it's comfortable and-" He was shivering. "-warm. Anyway, I was hired to go chronicle some trip to the icefields. J- just some achaeological thing. It was supposed to be..." Gabor trailed off. Glitz had slid back off his desk and was now boredly perusing the shelves. If it was anyone else, Gabor would be worried they were judging the state of the library. He hadn't been keeping up with the cleaning as much as he should have been. Glitz, though? He might not even be totally sure what books were _for._ Hopefully, he wouldn't say anything, and this conversation could finally be over.

But it wasn't. "A short what?" Glitz asked, glancing back over his shoulder as if to make sure Gabor hadn't somehow slipped out without him noticing.

"A _short trip,"_ Gabor grumbled. "It was almost summer. It wasn't supposed to snow much. But then it did. We weren't ready for it."

"And? What happened?"

"We were cold. We di- didn't have any food. People died. I was the lucky one," Gabor said. Glitz looked like he was about to open his mouth, and Gabor cut him off. If he had to hear that stupid voice one more time... "And that's _it._ That's _all._ I don't- don't actually remember any of it. Everything I ju- just told you, someone else told me, or I pieced it together over the last sev- seven months, because I forgot everything. It's some kind of stress thing! Go- go ask a _real_ doctor! Someone with a _degree!_ They can- they can- they can tell you!"

Gabor hadn't realized he had even gotten up from his desk, but somehow, he was standing only inches from Glitz, looking up at his dumb face and his dumbfounded expression, punctuating every stuttering word of his tirade with another jab to Glitz's skinny chest. Glitz looked more surprised than anything. Perhaps almost as surprised as Gabor.

"Wow, I... I'm sorry? I didn't mean to, um, upset you so much-" Glitz started. Gingerly, he reached out and pushed Gabor's hands away.

"Do you ever _mean_ to do anything? Is anything you do on pur- purpose, or do you just luck your way through life like you do everything else?" Gabor shouted. He wasn't sure when he had raised his voice, or why. Part of him knew he should stop, but he couldn't. He jerked his hands back, and after a moment's hesitation, reached out and shoved Glitz. Not hard, but hard enough for Glitz to back away, far enough to find his back pressed against the wall. _"Do you have any idea what I had to to to get here, you- you-"_

"Hey!" A high-pitched voice pierced the air. Gabor froze, his hands raised to strike Glitz again, harder this time. The door to the hall swung open, and the smell of smoke wafted inside as Willow poked her head in. Still-warm ash fell from her hair, her horns, and landed smoldering on the carpet. "Glitzy! The- hey... are you guys okay?"

Gabor stared for a moment, not even daring to breathe. Then, he slowly turned back to Glitz, who offered him an awkward smile before gently pushing past him. Gabor scrambled back, almost tripping over his own feet. "I- nothing- oh, _Gods,"_ He wheezed. What had he just done? Or almost done? Was Glitz going to say something? He'd said- he'd almost said-

"Just doing a little magic, Will! What's up?" Glitz asked. He sounded calm. He sounded downright chipper. That didn't mean anything, though. Glitz always sounded like that. Any second now, he was going to turn back to him and ask how Gabor could possibly remember 'what he did to get here'. He was perceptive like that. Not smart, perhaps, but perceptive.

"New supply order just came in! And the doc ordered a bunch of new light bulbs for the basement... and I'm not supposed to burn the old ones, after last time... y'get what I'm saying?" Willow asked, a wide smile spreading across her face. With that, she disappeared, as quickly as she had arrived.

"Ooh, Will, wait for me! See you later, Gabby," Glitz said, flouncing off towards the door. As he did, he clapped Gabor on the shoulder. That was enough to snap him out of his panicked stupor. Apologize. He needed to apologize. Now, before it was too late.

"G- Glitz, I'm so- I'm sorr- I'm-"

But he was already gone. The only sign that he had ever been there was the sparkling dust he'd left in his wake. Gabor was alone, and yet, he was sure that someone, somewhere, was looking down on him and judging him. He didn't know what he had meant to do to Glitz. He didn't even really know why he had gotten so angry. A part of him was disgusted with himself. He hadn't even been able to spit out the apology. Another part of him was disgusted that he had even _wanted_ to apologize.

Shakily, he returned to his desk. It suddenly seemed so far away. He needed to sit down. He was tired. And hungry. And cold. So, so cold.

As he sank back into his chair, burying himself in his coat, he covered his face with his hands. Softly, too softly for anyone to overhear, he began to speak. A prayer, half-remembered from his childhood in the wastes. It had gotten him through everything else. Perhaps, with Her blessing, this would pass too. "M- mother, bless me, for I will do whatever it takes to survive..."


End file.
